James Joyce
(1882-1941)
James Joyce: Introduction
James Joyce is one of
the most innovative
novelists of the 20th
century and one of the
great masters of stream of
consciousness writing.
James Joyce: Biography
• Irish novelist and poet
• Born in 1882 in Dublin, the
son of a poverty-stricken
civil servant
• In 1898, studied at Dublin’s
University College
and graduated in 1902
• Raised in the Roman
Catholic faith, he broke with
the church while he was in
college
•1904 – left Dublin with Nora
Barnacle, a chambermaid whom
he eventually married
•They and their two children
lived in Trieste, Italy, in Paris,
and in Zürich, Switzerland
•Joyce supported his family by
woring as a language instructor
and by gifts from patrons
•After 20 years in Paris, early in
World War II, when the Germans
invaded France, Joyce moved
to Zürich, where he died on
January 13, 1941
James Joyce’s most famous
work: Dubliners
James Joyce’s first
major work was
Dubliners, a collection
of fifteen short stories
dealing successively
with events of
childhood, youth and
adulthood. As the title
indicated, Joyce made
Ireland the focus of
his stories.
•All of the short stories are set in
Dublin, Ireland.
•Many focus on the themes of
death, disease, and paralysis.
•Many of the short stories are
interconnected by symbols and
moods.
•The stories are not as bleak as
their themes suggest, though.
•Many explore the subtleties of
experiences that are common to
all.
•
Dubliners is about people’s spiritual growth more than anything else.
•
All of the characters in the stories struggle, in one way or another, with
morality, personal frustrations, or restless desires.
•
They are ordinary people involved in various minor, yet meaningful, events
in everyday life.
•
Often, these characters are on the brink of discovering something, such as
loss, shame, failure, or death .
•These stories contain no melodramatic conflict.
•Instead, the stories present those quiet moments in the characters’
lives when they come to a sudden realization of the meaning of their
existence (an epiphany).
In Dubliners, James Joyce made use of epiphany to show
complex emotions.
At the end of the stories, the heroes suddenly understood their
predicament.
It is then that the heroes of the stories realize the essence (real
meaning) of life.
“Araby”
• "Araby'' is one of fifteen short stories
that together make up James Joyce's
collection, Dubliners.
• It is the last story of the first set, and is
told from the perspective of a boy just
on the verge of adolescence.
• The story takes its title from a real
festival which came to Dublin in 1894,
when Joyce was twelve years old.
“Araby” is a story about a boy who wants to buy
something for the girl he secretly has a crush on.
He looks forward to the coming of the bazaar.
Unfortunately, time and money are issues.
At the end of the story, the boy has an epiphany
and realizes he is only a pitiful creature.
“The other houses of the street, conscious of
decent lives within them, gazed at one another with
brown imperturbable faces.”
• The boy's outlook is severely limited.
• He is ignorant and therefore innocent.
• Lonely, imaginative, and isolated, he lacks the
understanding necessary for evaluation and
perspective.
•Joyce uses no descriptive language
to express the boy’s adoration of
Mangan’s sister.
•Joyce only narrates some actions of
the boy.
•From these simple words, the reader
can understand the boy’s mental state.
•The reader also understands that the
writer is sympathetic to this poor boy.
• The bazaar is dirty and disappointing.
• It is closing and the hall is "in darkness,” which mirrors the
boy’s inner feelings.
• The story ends with the boy realizing that his love existed only in
his mind.
•The reality of Araby caused the boy’s spirit to awaken.
•The reader can see through his eyes that his spirit
awakened, and he clearly saw his foolish behavior.
•The boy is filled with sadness and anger b/c he will
never be able to satisfy his desires.
•The boy’s epiphany reveals the futility of human
pursuits.
• In a sudden flash of insight, the boy sees that his faith and his
passion have been blind.
• In this moment of disillusionment he feels that he himself is at
fault for being so bemused by his ideals that he failed
completely to see the world as it is.
• Understandably his disillusionment causes him "anguish and
anger."
• "Araby" is a story of first love.
• Even more, it is a portrait of a world that defies the ideal and the
dream.
•
Setting in this story becomes the true subject
– atmosphere of spiritual paralysis
– young boy's idealistic dreams are no match
• The boy discovers the discrepancy between the real and the ideal
in life.
• Realizing this, the boy takes his first step into adulthood .